Fans line up overnight for iPhone 5; sales start smoothly

People wait in line at the Mall at Wellington Green on Thursday night for stores to open so they can buy the iPhone 5 on Friday morning. (Taylor Jones/The Palm Beach Post)

Are you in line? The only way to get an iPhone 5 today is if you’re in line now (and how many are actually available is a closely guarded secret) or if you got online a week ago and ordered it.
The latest version of Apple’s smartphone went on sale at 8 a.m. today. Fans lined up Thursday. The taller screen is the big buzz, and it will be lighter, thinner and faster.

But can you believe, someone already broke one. Intentionally.

Jason Roberts, owner of iphonefix.com waited in line and paid full price, $650, Friday just to break a new iPhone. His Jupiter-based business specializes in iPhone and iPad repair. So this morning he was durability testing: See his blog.

The concrete sidewalk outside his office finally worked. “Basically it was the first broken iPhone 5 in the country,” he said.

But all the fans I met in line this morning wanted their iPhones to be spotless so they could rub it in the faces of friends and family this weekend.

Awake for more than 24 hours, friends James Weimann of Okeechobee and Mariano Olivo of West Palm Beach have the first two spots in line at the Wellington Green Apple store.

“We have to stay fresh. We have to stay up-to-date,” Olivio said.

They are experienced fans with hours of time in lines. They started at 7 p.m. Thursday, this time.

Behind them are first timers Brandon Marlow of Palm Beach Gardens and Wes Moyer of Palm City.

The Apple employees break out clapping, all gathered in their blue shirts, keeping pumped up for the moment the doors open at 8 a.m.

Marlow pre-ordered, getting up at 3 a.m. last Friday to spend 40 minutes trying to get into the Apple store online. He canceled when delivery was listed as Oct. 5. “I can’t wait. Not ’til October,” he said.

Buyers in line at the Mall at Wellington Green Friday morning before the store opened. Photo by Gary Coronado

Apple pre-orders hit 2 million within the first 24 hours, exceeding the company’s initial supply, Apple reported in a news release. AT&T pre-orders hit records too.
In fact, an NPD poll found that 83 percent of smartphone users knew about the iPhone 5 release within hours of its announcement, and 86 percent of current iPhone users planned to get the new version.

Bruce Foote, a retired dentist who lives in Gulfstream, ordered his early and hopes to get it today. “I can’t wait to get my hands on the 5,” he said Thursday afternoon.

Apple's iPhone 5

Foote, an active member of the Palm Beach Phoenix Apple User Group, said some reviewers aren’t excited because “everything that was new about it was leaked a month or month and half in advance.” But he anticipates the speeds on the 4G LTE network to rival what he gets on his iPad, which are four to five times faster than his home Wi-Fi connection. In areas of the county with better service, speeds are seven or eight times faster.

Last year, sales of the iPhone boosted retail sales for the entire quarter. Each release tops the last for sales and advance orders.

Gregg Weiss, managing director of Blue Whale Apps, a Wellington company that specilizes in applications for Apple products, said the Apple platform is superior to Android for developers. And he personally is an iPhone fan.

His iPhone 5 is ordered and his company has been working with the new operating system, iOS6, for several months to update existing applications. Apps will work fine even if not updated for the larger screen he said, though you may notice a black band at the top and bottom of the screen.